From Garthgate to Irish Water, 'Magaluf Girl' to the World Cup in Brazil, Newstalk presenters share the stories that impacted them most over the past year.

Garth Brooks saga - Ivan Yates, presenter Newstalk Breakfast

For me the story of the year has to be the controversy, the angst and conflict over the cancelled Garth Brooks’ concerts.
Here you had town versus country throughout Ireland – you had culchies and country cousins pitted against the suave urbanites who looked down their nose at the country and western singer.

The latter were delighted to blame Garth Brooks for what was actually an administrative cock-up. In other words why was Aiken promotions ever allowed sell tickets for a concert that wasn’t approved?

Garth Brooks should have made some friends in higher places.

— Colm Tobin (@colmtobin) July 3, 2014

But whatever about the rights and wrongs of it, the upshot was that Dublin and the Irish economy lost out on about €50m. People had booked accommodation, tickets needed to be refunded – it was the worst possible outcome.

"I hope lessons have been learned, particularly by Dublin city council boss Owen Keegan."

Then out of the chaos, who appeared but the bould, Lord Mayor of Dublin. Christy Burke emerged as man of the people, salt of the earth – he nearly got Barack Obama involved. We even had the Mexican ambassador offer help “on a diplomatic level”. It became a national pantomime show.

But, for me, it was a sad story too as GAA clubs would have pocketed 85 cent in every euro of the GAA’s profits on the gigs. Unfortunately, it was a zero sum gain at the end of the day. I hope lessons have been learned, particularly by Dublin city council boss Owen Keegan.

The death of Jonathan Corrie / Irish Water - Marc Coleman, presenter The Marc Coleman Show

Two related news stories struck me this year. Let me mention the later one first: the death some weeks back of Jonathan Corrie within sight of the Dáil. The first story was the news back in January that Irish Water could end up spending €1.5 to €2bn hiring thousands of staff, that according to John Fitzgerald of the ESRI, were surplus to requirements.

Now Jonathan Corrie’s death was caused by complicated factors. Ones you can’t necessarily pin down to a lack of government spending (he had owned and sold two homes to fund a drug addiction). But I do recall how during the year it had been suggested that if the household charge was reduced that spending on the homeless might also be reduced.

"This year some invisible thing in the Irish psyche that makes us patient with this sort of thing seems to have snapped."

Since my show started in 2009 it has had a constant theme of highlighting the contrast between what the state spends on less necessary things and the money that as a result we then don’t have spend on the vital things. It isn’t a blame game: Governments around the world are grappling with the problem of how to cut wasteful spending. But this year was different.

This year some invisible thing in the Irish psyche that makes us patient with this sort of thing seems to have snapped. And it was the Irish Water story, contrasted with the tragedy of homelessness - that may well have made that happen.

Irish water charges protest - Jonathan Healy, presenter Lunchtime

For me, the news story of the year was water. There is an abundance of the stuff, but the tide against paying for it was rising throughout 2014.

On November 1st, I was assigned to cover the planned Cork protest against water charges, and honestly had no idea what to expect in terms of numbers. In an ironic twist, that Saturday turned out to be one of the wettest days of the year.

As I left the car park to head to the gathering point, I remember thinking to myself that the turnout would be seriously affected by the weather. When I caught up with the march, they had already reached the top of the South Mall - complete with megaphones, noise, horns and chants. Those I spoke to said they had no issue with giving me their opinion - and to a man, woman and child, they were all respectful and polite.

"Directly underneath the stage was a man in a motorised wheelchair ... Such was his opposition - he had probably gone against common sense and medical advice to attend."

Trying to estimate how many turn out at these protests is an impossible task, but the consensus was that over ten thousand marched in the rain. It took them some 40 minutes to meander through the city streets before returning to a stage on the Grand Parade.

Amid the protest songs and the speeches, one thing caught my eye. Directly underneath the stage was a man in a motorised wheelchair, covered in nothing more than a bin liner in a fruitless attempt to stay dry. Such was his opposition - he had probably gone against common sense and medical advice to attend. That man was one of thousands of ordinary voters who had been motivated to take part, and whose actions on November 1st forced a Government climb-down just a few weeks later.

The threat of water charges had done something that the previous six years of austerity had failed to do - they had forced people onto the streets.

The beautiful game in Brazil - Joe Molloy, presenter Off The Ball

Cable lines over Rio's favelas Wikipedia Commons

Before 2014, I had never been to Brazil. I had never made it to South America. I had never been to a World Cup. I had never really travelled alone. To suddenly find myself reporting from Rio, Sao Paulo, Fortaleza, Salvador and Belo Horizonte across six manic World Cup weeks was something of a sensory overload. There were mad, manic, adrenaline-fuelled days with crowds and games and noise and colour. There were slow, long, lonely days which mostly involved taxis, airports and hotels where nobody spoke English.

On the football front, it was really just a thrill to be at the various stadia for historic games. I saw the Dutch hammer Spain, Messi score a wonder goal against Iran, the Germans destroy Brazil 7-1 and then go on to beat Argentina in the final. That the games were spread right across such a vast country resulted in a more varied experience then I had anticipated. Travel was mainly done by air, with an occasional overnight bus thrown in.

"The poverty lived up to its awful reputation. It was the sheer vastness of the favelas which blew me away."

It should really be pointed out that the whole venture reeked of corruption and ineptitude by the way. Some 12 stadia were built instead of the FIFA minimum requirement of eight. In Brasilia, the political capital, they built a $900million (€737m) stadium. Allegations of fraudulent billing surround its construction. Only Wembley is a more expensive football stadium. Incredibly, there is no football team in Brasilia to inherit it. It sits idle, a vanity project. The Brazilian taxpayer is still covering the cost of this brutal politicking.

Towards the end of my sojourn, I spent a day in the Rio slums with Conor Hartnett, a great Cork man who works with a local charity to provide football workshops for the kids. The poverty lived up to its awful reputation. It was the sheer vastness of the favelas which blew me away. We took a cable car ride over them (put ‘Rio cable car’ into google images) and they went on for what felt like forever. In the most awful possible way, it was stunning. How any government could hope to sort out the situation in any kind of reasonable time frame, I don’t know. That was an unforgettable day.

Brazil is nothing if not a country of extremes. I spent the next day on Flamingo beach and around Copacabana where the wealth was almost garish.

All in all, an extraordinary six weeks.

'Magaluf Girl' - Henry McKean, reporter / presenter Under The Covers

When the story broke on social media called 'Magaluf Girl' my deputy editor John Byrne asked me to get on the first flight to Magaluf, Mallorca. A teenage girl on holidays after finishing her final school exams was involved in performing a sexual act on 24 boys and it was filmed on a smart-phone.

This shocked the nation of traditional Ireland - as many parents were worried sick about their children holidaying in the renowned resort. I arrived to find out whether it really was that bad. Is sex now just like a fast food burger, it tastes great but you might get a stomach ache afterwards?

"As one girl put it: “Any hole is a goal.”"

When I arrived into Magaluf on my own with my radio equipment it was peak summer and sweltering hot. The tourist hotspot is like a Spanish Las Vegas packed with crazed drunken teenagers from across the UK and Ireland.

One of the first groups of youngsters I met was from Tallaght, who had just finished the Leaving Cert. Their attitude to sex and the viral 'Magaluf Girl' was pretty much unanimous: 'it's no big deal'. Or as one girl put it: “Any hole is a goal.”

I met a 19-year-old Scottish guy who admitted to sleeping with three Irish girls over two nights and he only used a condom once. It appears safe sex has gone out of fashion – and now sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise.

According to a Spanish pharmacist, one young holidaymaker said he didn’t use a condom because he had taken the morning after pill not realising it won't work for blokes. What I took from this report was sex is different now - it's not about love and passion. For young Irish people, Catholic guilt is dead and gone. Sex is fun - a pastime, a hobby, something you do to feel good and what’s an STI anyway?

Futureproof helps make a baby - Jonathan McCrea, presenter Futureproof

This year has had more than its fair share of tragic news stories, particularly for children. You don’t have to be a new father to feel a little damaged by stories of schoolchildren or toddlers who have died in places close and far because of dumb anger, shameful neglect or the cruellest luck. My story of the year was a long one, but culminated in the week that saw 130 children in Pakistan murdered by terrorists. I needed some good news and so perhaps that’s why the story that most affected me this year wasn’t a global headline, but a personal story we ran on Futureproof for over a year, finally coming to an end the week before Christmas.

Some 14 months ago, producer John Fardy and I sat down for a production meeting to discuss long-term projects. I have several friends who have struggled with fertility issues and I wanted a way to look at the science of assisted reproduction while helping a family struggling to conceive. We asked our audience for help spread the word and within a week, we had received dozens of emails from couples who had been told they could never be biological parents. After careful screening, we invited Gary and Lisa McMahon from Dublin to share their story on their own terms, while SIMS IVF clinic would provide them with treatment using the latest technology.

"We saw Lisa cry as she saw her fertilised embryo on the screen for the first time, and we heard her cry again as she told us that the embryo had failed a few weeks later."

It was not a smooth journey. Lisa has Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) which makes healthy ovulation impossible. She had to undergo stimulation medication which comes with mood swings as standard. It wasn’t easy. We saw Lisa cry as she saw her fertilised embryo on the screen for the first time, and we heard her cry again as she told us that the embryo had failed a few weeks later.

More than once, we had to reconsider continuing with the story on air, but Lisa and Gary persisted with the help of boundless optimism of Dr David Walshe coaxing them onwards. Finally, after six years of trying, Lisa was pregnant. At 20 weeks we saw a baby and a heartbeat.

Nine terrifying months later, baby Nicholas was born. On the 20th of December, I held a two-week-old baby in my arms and was reminded again that there is still good in the world. There is happiness. There is hope.